Tuesday, March 31, 2009

For some reason, I can hear Steppenwolf in the background when I think of this cake... "Get your motor running, head out on the highway..."

This past weekend I made a special 60th birthday cake for a client of mine who has a nice shiny red and yellow Motorcycle. It really is so fun to recreate someone's special bike or car. I get so excited to see or hear their reaction to the creation.

This birthday cake was 4 layers of lemon cake with swiss meringue buttercream covered in fondant with handmade sugarpaste decorations.

Friday, March 27, 2009

This is a cake I made last weekend for my 1-year old nephew. He loves his Heffalump stuffed animal so I thought this cake would be perfect.

I thought he would immediately grab for the trunk of the cake but he went right for the chocolate cupcake! He had chocolate icing all over his hands and face.

Although, I have to admit, I'm a bit scarred because it was his first taste of chocolate and he immeidately broke out in a big rash. The poor guy is allergic. He was fine after about 20 minutes - but I was quite alarmed at his experience with his first cake.

I only have the one picture because I'm in the middle of renovations and didn't have a good shot. I was planning to take more pictures at the party but it was so busy. Well this kid is going to have the best birthday cakes - so I will definitely capture all future events better.

Update on August 2nd: I found another picture of the Heffalump cake. This was taken when I was getting ready to set up the cake. You may notice the cupcake looks a bit different as it actually fell over, so I had to smooth out the icing and put it back on top. I'm still amazed the trunk defied gravity, even though the cupcake did not.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

I was reviewing some pictures of my older cakes and I came across this one. Isn't it the cutest? I made this cake a couple years ago - it was just after taking a marzipan sculpting course at George Brown College. All the characters and picnic items are made out of marzipan.

To be honest, this was a practice cake so it was just a fondant covered styrofoam dummy cake. I remember I kept this displayed in my kitchen for many many months - I just couldn't bare to throw it away. It was only the beginning of my career in cake - so sweet!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

I love all the cake ideas you can get and share over the internet. Clients are either asking me to create something unique or they give me a picture to copy.

The first cake was requested to be similar to Wilton's Amazing Amazon Cake and add in a bit of my flair. The cakes were alternating layer of chocolate and vanilla butter cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream. All the animals are handmade out of sugarpaste. And yes, those are tiny purple butterflies around the cake.

The second party was lots of banana cupcakes and sugar vanilla cookies. The design for the cupcakes was based off of a great cupcake by Clever Cupcakes in Montreal. I'm a huge fan of their absolutely creative designs. Make sure you check them out.

Monday, March 9, 2009

It was Toronto's 175th birthday on Friday, March 6th and the website Torontoist had a cupcake contest. For this contest, you have to design a cupcake that says "Toronto" - I had a lot of fun with this one!

Well I decided that one cupcake was not enough - so I made 1 dozen rainbow cupcakes.

Ta da - here is my cupcake design with all items handmade out of sugarpaste! And the description that I submitted with my entry: Toronto cannot be expressed in just one cupcake - it is such a colorful multi-cultural city, lots to see, do and eat, accessible, fun and interesting. Here is a counter clockwise tour of my rainbow cupcakes starting from the top left:- The Airport - an international airport where everyplace is accessible- High Park - a huge park right in the middle of the city- Music and Drinks all across town- Rogers Centre and the CN Tower- Cabs everywhere - you never have to call them!- The TTC Streetcar - easy to get around- The Beaches in the East End - volleyball and blue flag beaches- The 401 Highway takes you to Kingston, Ottawa, Montreal and many more!- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle- City Hall- Chinatown - always good dim sum!- Bicycles everywhere in the cityWell, I sure hope I win this contest! I think they will be announcing the winner sometime this week. Even if I don't win, I sure had a blast with these cupcakes! Happy Birthday Toronto!

March 12th Update: Thanks everyone for your wonderful compliments. I'm so excited - I won the contest! They did a wonderful summary of all the winners - check it out here

Saturday, March 7, 2009

A common trend when talking to people this week was that they were feeling blue.... or "it was just one of those weeks". It happens to us all - It must be delayed February Blues. So I thought we could start a fresh new day with feeling blue together - then we move on!

Enjoy these Sweet Blue Things - cupcakes that I made for a bridal shower and mini cakes I made for a local bakery!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

It's a sunny but very cold day in Toronto.... it's -14 degrees Celsius. So, I thought it would warm me up by posting up a beach-themed cake.

This cake was for a bridal shower where the lucky couple is going away to get married in Mexico. Lucky couple!

All the seashells, rocks and frangipani flowers were handmade out of sugarpaste, then dusted with pearl dust. They were so fun to make! I can't decide whether my favourite is the starfish or the sand dollars.